NOTE: April Fools.
Time to begin the switching of gears to football season!
I come here to praise the fullback, not to bury him.
As I sat at Reliant Stadium in December and watched the Midshipmen run roughshod over Missouri, I pondered to myself: Why not us? So for the past several weeks, I've researched and considered the possibilities of installing a flexbone offense at Missouri.
Gary Pinkel, Dave Christensen and David Yost have done fantastic things for the Missouri offense since adopting the spread in the early 2000s. As a semi-early adopter, Missouri developed an identity and set itself ahead of the curve. Now? Missouri is merely a part of that curve. It's time for a change.
The Big 12 has become a pass-happy league, so defenses have become adept and accustomed to facing spread offenses. That mental advantage Missouri had a few seasons ago no longer exists now. Missouri can once again gain the mental advantage by spending the spring and fall installing this new system, a system that has been proven successful at Navy and Georgia Tech, perennial bowl teams.
But, you say, what about Mizzou's current talent? Observe:
What do we have here? We have our nimble and solidly built QB headed under center. Behind him, a north-south runner in Derrick Washington who, like Kyle Eckel or Jonathan Dwyer, always seems to fall forward (a GREAT trait in a flexbone fullback). In the slot wing, you have the speedy DeVion Moore, who would be fantastic speeding around corners. On the other side sits newly-numbered Kendial Lawrence, featuring many of the same traits as Moore. Throw in Jerrell Jackson as the weakside wideout, and you've got yourself a Flexbone monster. You know Gabbert has a cannon. Why not make the safeties come up to the line of scrimmage and let him bomb over top four or five times a game?
We're going back to the future, folks. The Big 12 was built on three yards and a cloud of dust. As the rest of the conference goes airborne, it's time for Missouri to be the innovators once again. The future of Missouri football: Three yards and a cloud of Field Turf.